The Cultures That Exist Inside Coffee Shops

My observations of human behavior were made at Starbucks on Grand avenue, New York near Elmhurst. I chose this location due to the high customer traffic that it sees. Since it is a popular coffee shop, the customer base cuts across different multicultural sector of the population. There is a lot of variety in the backgrounds and personalities of the people visiting the shop. This quality makes any patterns that are recognized more representative of the general public.

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

I chose to do the Starbucks Ethnography over all of the other options because Starbucks currently plays a large role in the social behaviors of today’s society. It has grown significantly from when it was first founded and is currently dominating the coffee market worldwide. Starbucks has become a social and cultural phenomenon because, “...it is at once a globalized consumer institution and a local place in which the mundane daily activities of sipping coffee, writing in journals, and conversing with friends are practiced” (Dickinson 7). Since I am in the age group that Starbucks is particularly trendy with (young adults), I already have some expectations for what the results of the ethnography will be. I have also lived in Orange County for my entire life, so I had some context as to which race would be more prevalent to the Starbucks I had gone to. I wish to explore the symbolic anthropology, which, “...focuses on understanding cultures by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to their members” (Nanda 35). Understanding the symbolism behind coffee and Starbucks is important since it has multiple meanings and has become deeply ingrained within our culture.

Joshua Davenport owned a coffee bar/bistro in the small town of Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania situated on the Delaware River. He wanted to bring the old world elegance to his rural community, a place where neighbors could meet and converse over espresso drinks prepared by an expert barista. The shops name is called “Espressivo” that attracted many young people, especially the college students at the nearby campus, and older

Over the past few years, commercial spaces have become areas for multifunction activities. Along with the availability of gourmet coffee, food, ample seating, and free WIFI bookstore cafes have welcomed a clientele that blends leisure, social and work related activities. In this context, a local popular Barnes and Noble bookstore cafe served as the perfect environment to perform a field observation for this assignment and to explore customer behaviors and reasons for patronizing this particular establishment.

Bloomington is a traditional Democratic college town. The city limits are filled with farming cooperatives, community bike shops, farmers markets, and non-franchised coffee shops. It’s shops like these that help define Bloomington from any other city in America. But what do these coffee shops mean in other parts of the United States? Within the past few years, cities have been classified as “hip:” fun cities for the average twenty-something. Some hipster cities are San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Burlington, Vermont; and Bloomington, Indiana. These cities have numerous similarities with one resounding smell: coffee.

The vast majoring of the people sitting inside the Starbucks didn’t make any purchased, they would just walk in and sit down to either read a book or browse the web on their laptops. These people were already there when I arrived at the coffee shop. The people that making a quick in-and-out purchase were perhaps heading to class and needed that extra boost of caffeine to keep them awake ideally this was their goal. Ideally, the vast majoring of the students sitting for a long period of time would constantly check their phone, some would just sit there and watch funny and music videos until it was time to head to class. It’s seems that the vast majority of the people sitting there were just killing time.

For my ethnographic report, I chose to study Starbucks located in the NJIT campus center in Newark, New Jersey. The purpose of this study was to identify the behaviors and possible needs of the people in the area that enter this establishment, and possibly all coffee shops located in a school campus. I conducted my ethnography research from 1:45 PM to 3:45 on Wednesday, February 5, 2017. It was slightly snowing that day, which is a variable that I took into consideration. I was sitting on the last seat of the corner, the opposite way from the cash register facing the entrance of the coffee shop. During the two hours that I spend at the coffee shop only 5 people walked in which I found unusual because people tend to grab a cup of coffee whenever the weather is unpleasant. Perhaps on snowing days people don’t tend to visit the campus center as much they go directly to class from their dorm or house.

Starbucks- Starbucks is known for selling their premium coffee and tea products. Another thing that they do well is sell a comfortable environment. It’s a good place for people to hang out and socialize with friends and family. However they do not have

Though coffee houses throughout Europe have a self-explanatory function of meeting point, discussion area and recreational facility, this concept has only recently been explored in North America, and is gaining in popularity and social recognition as we speak, and is only expected to increase over the course of the next few years.

For some people Starbucks is a part of their morning rituals for others it is just a coffee shop for their Frappuccino’s. However, for some Starbucks is much more, those who work at Starbucks are members of their own subculture. A subculture is a group within society that shares the same values and interests. The people who work at Starbucks are made up by baristas, the entry level employee, shift supervisors, and managers. This team of employees’ works together closely to provide customers with the best experience and produce possible. Through working so intimately with one’s coworkers creates the aspects of a subculture. Without them Starbucks as a company and per store would not be able to run as efficiently as they do today. Starbucks

The ambiances at each bar were different and the energy was electrifying. It was in this setting that he realized that creating an atmosphere and bonding with customers around a cup of coffee was monumental in improving his business. Coffee would be only the automobile for a place where people want to stay for a while, a place-like-home, and office. These variables will become the differentiating factor for Starbucks.

Sitting, sipping, spending; these are all things one can do in a coffee shop. Coffee shops are in nearly every town in the US. This market has become separate from the rest of the dining industry by specializing in a variety of coffee and coffee drinks. Coffee shops have started to bring new tastes and options for consumers. Coffee shops are a luxury that are beginning to seem stable and perhaps permanent part of the economy, they meet a demand for out of home coffee and meeting spaces.

Shultz was fascinated with the company, their operation, product and corporate culture. In 1982 he joined Starbucks as director of operations and marketing (Koehn, 2005). In a trip to Italy, Shultz’ focused on the important role coffee shops played on society and national culture. These coffee shops provided a “social” experience that gathered customers throughout the day. He envisioned Starbucks recreating this type of cozy and appealing coffee shops were people came in to socialize and he also saw the potential benefit of to-go drinks.

This case assignment discusses the history of Starbuck’s accomplishments as they entered the American coffee culture heritage. In 1983, The chairman and CEO Howard Schultz traveled to Italy and had a dream to carry the Italy coffeehouse ritual back to the United States. Schultz was focused on creating an environment meeting company that makes good coffee but also be a social experiment. Starbucks today opened more than 19,000 stores functioning in 62 countries. Starbucks has numerous rewards that globalization has offered and they have significantly benefited from it, while in the coffee industry. Starbucks has a wide-range in marketing strategies to benefit the customers. During the different obstacles that Starbucks has encountered, they must stay reliable in quality and uphold to adjust to different customer values.